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Anonymous wrote:The MS allotments were not meant to evenly distribute who attends TJ but to make sure that all kids have a chance of attending TJ. We know that there are MSs that don’t use their full allotments, the point is that there is the opportunity for kids from schools that are under represented at TJ who meet the basic requirements.
It would be more accurate to say that the allotments were intended to ensure all middle schools had some representation, even if very small. It doesn't make sure that all kids, as a practical matter, have a chance of attending TJ, or would ever want to.
If you meet the minimum criteria for applying and you attend one of the Middle Schools that doesn't meet their allotment, then aren't you guaranteed a spot at TJ? And aren't these exactly the kids that go to TJ and drown in the rigor?
This must be true. There is one middle school, I can't remember which one, that has sent 4 or 5 students to TJ and every student was dismissed to their base school each of the past couple years.
That which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.
DP. It’s anecdotal, but FCPS would always withhold the evidence.
What is clear is the pyramids that were sending the most kids to TJ before the admissions policy changed continue to send the most kids there. In addition, the high schools in those pyramids remain among the strongest in FCPS, even though they send so many kids to TJ.
There are a few exceptions where there isn’t as much of a culture of aspiring to attend TJ. It’s not because those high schools are any better, but simply that the enrollments skew whiter and less Asian.
This is one of my primary gripes with the TJ Admissions Office over the course of the past... let's say 15 years or so.
25 years ago there were approximately 3,000 applications to TJ year over year for 400 spaces. The population size of the catchment area has absolutely exploded over the past quarter century and yet for the past dozen years or so (including the times when TJ was repeatedly crowned the best high school in the country) the application numbers have settled at around 2,500 per year.
We should be seeing application numbers of 5,000+ every year if we want a truly exceptional class every year. There are more than enough phenomenal students in Northern Virginia to create a super high-performing, ethnically and socioeconomically diverse cohort each year that excels to a far greater extent than TJ already does.
The Admissions Office and the school itself need to do a much better job of telling the story of its excellence.
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